Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Homemade gifts part 2

My Family started giving homemade gifts years ago when I was just in Junior High. It has become my favorite tradition. People are always amazed that we still give to each person in our family, we don't draw names. I have five siblings, three of which are married, so I usually make 12 gifts. Sometimes I'll make stuff for nieces and nephews as well. I love it.

The part that I love the most is the anticipation of waiting for everyone to open the gifts you've spent hours slaving over. When I was younger I wouldn't be able to sleep Christmas Eve. I was too excited about the gifts I was giving not receiving. We have had a lot of teary Christmases over the years. There is just so much love that goes into each gift.

Sometimes we don't finish gift or even give gifts that's okay. No one has been banished from the family. We only do what we want to. If all you have time for is a nice letter, that's fine. Sometimes a letter is cherished more than anything else.

So, onto the presents here are a few of the things that were given this year.

My sister in-law put together kits to help us force bulbs in the Spring.

My older sister made me a book of homemade cards and envelopes.

She also made all the boys quilts. Each was made with their favorite team's logo.

My youngest brother gave us all this...He's planning on putting all our home videos on DVD.

My dad gave everyone a leather journal for our most special thoughts. He had pieces of metal engraved with our initials then attached them to the front.

My dad started this last gift ten years ago and just finished it this year. It's a personalized game of Acquire, one of our families all time favorite board games. The money bears family faces and all the properties are named after properties in his life.

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comments:

I think it's great that you guys all make homemade gifts! It's a wonderful way to put personal touches on all of your gifts. Thanks for sharing some of them! I especially love the personalized Guess Who? and Acquire games!

I have never heard of the game aquire? I will have to look into that. And as for the personalized family guess who game. I have wanted to make one of those for years. That was always my favorite game as a kid. Wow, how fun!!!

I love the handmade gifts and games. So creative. I made a sewn version of Bananagrams game for my niece this year. 144 embroidered letter tiles does not compare to her Nintendo DS, but the thought and love surpasses it, at least i hope it's not lost on a 6 year old.

What a creative family. We decided to Craft Christmas this year too so I'm loving these ideas. I did the Guess Who game a few years ago for my sister too. I posted on it back in the summer. Now that I see yours I'm linking to it in my post. I get most my google traffic looking for "Personalized Guess Who" You should add that tag. See it here: http://www.obseussed.com/2010/08/personalized-guess-who-game-family.html